Halloween
is less than a week away, but I am prepared with the same decorations
as last year, (all three of them). I have the jack o’ lantern, the all
purpose crow, and a ceramic ghostly-pumpkin-snowman, (not shown here).
I stuck
the bird on my straw hat for an event here at the Treehouse where
people were wearing whimsical hats. Like the time my friend, Jan
Collins, stuck a fake canary in her hairdo in 1978 when we went to dine
at a fancy restaurant, many people never noticed the crow, at first. I
suspect some never did.
Good Pictures
Sometimes,
if I am lucky, the light, color, shadow, and other circumstances, all
meet at the very moment I press the shutter, ( I wonder why it isn’t
called an ‘opener’ since the device, ‘opens’, to let in the light ), and
somehow the result is stunningly expressive and vibrant, ( like the pink rose above ). Pictures like that, require very little editing, if any.
The picture of the bee, (above),
gorging on nectar was one that benefited from some post production to
show nectar dripping from it’s proboscis as it was rising from the honey
colored rose.
Food Foto
I wondered
how I could express the spicy curry flavor of this lamb vindaloo I had
for dinner a couple of nights ago. I tried an effect called burnt edges
that seems to do the trick.
Most Colorful Hat
Dorothy,
the lady who’s garden produces many of the flowers I photograph, won
the ‘most colorful’ hat at the Treehouse Mad Hatter party today. She
asked me to take a picture of her and her hat to send to her kids. I
did.
I found
a new application that is designed to add the effect of a speeding car,
or action sports photo enhancement, but I found that by adjusting it a
little differently, I can get other types of images to state their
messages with impact.
Dorothy’s hat and this LMP Trio
rehearsal picture make a clear statement with the specific areas of
focus that become possible with the motion focus application. What a
great time to have the opportunity to do photography.
Today’s Relatively Appropriate Song; (This was filmed with a couple of the new iPhone 4s smart phones)
I know
I am a little tardy with Thursday’s post, however I will attempt to
bring my thoughts and imagery back together soon. In the meantime, there
are a few items that are rattling around in my head that I would like
to share with you.
Friday, I drove to the bay area to shoot some video, and to play music with Marian and Leona.
The video
is of Huey White doing his Swami Salami magic and ventriloquist show at
the Pinole Senior Village. Marian was invited to be part of the act,
and she also agreed to be my extra camera person. Thank you Marian.
I checked out
the footage from the three cameras, and the separate sound recordings
when I got back Saturday afternoon. It all looks and sounds pretty good.
Now I just have to cut it up into little pieces and reassemble the best
parts into a dazzling promotional DVD.
The LMP Trio
Marian’s neighbor and long time friend, Jim, took some pictures of the LMP Trio as we played a few tunes Saturday morning. Thank you Jim.
The music was uplifting and empowering, as always when Leona, Marian, and I get together with some wonderfully written songs.
The LMP Trio will be playing in Piedmont on the 31st. I shall be driving down again next Sunday.
It’s
actually a pleasant trip, and most of the ride is a form of meditation
to me. The only distractions are the occasional, but usually brief,
encounters with some drivers who have a deficiency in spacial
relationships and comparative velocities as pertains to sharing a
highway with other moving objects.
I suspect
those drivers are the same people who have difficulty to sharing the
planet with other life forms. I consider ways and means to enlighten
them in passing, but soon the puzzle fades away in my rear view mirror,
the music in my head fills my consciousness, and I regain a meditative
state of harmony. Thus, I find the drive to be very refreshing.
The Phil Seymour Band
The Phil Seymour Band - (Photo - Al Labelle)
I received
copies of pictures that were taken by Al Labelle during the October 6
party at Redding Fitness. I like the pictures. The band looks good. The Phil Seymour Band plays again on November 5th for a Shasta Blues Society event.
This big
beautiful pink rose appeared on another one of the scrawny little
driveway rose bushes. Not only is this rose exquisitely, stunningly
gorgeous, but it is nearly as large as the bush it is growing on.
As if
the blooming rose isn’t enough to delight, it has some more on the way.
The deep, rich color and shape of this bud promises to deliver a treat
to the senses in as soon as a day or two.
The other side of the driveway has become active again, and what fascinating shapes I found when I looked closely.
I couldn’t begin to tell you what these things are called, but they keep developing and changing shape over time.
All I know is some of these flowers sure get my attention and tickle my imagination.
I took these
pictures on Saturday afternoon when I returned from the Occupy Redding
demonstration. For the background with these images, I used the flip
side of my Greed is a type of Insanity sign from the event.
The demonstration
is one in a series that will continue for years if necessary until
there is some sort of social justice, ecological conservation,
consequences for the greedy instead of poverty for those they exploit,
and a return to democracy in the United States.
I wrote a little about the rally and included a few pictures. If you would like to see how the demonstration went, you can go there, HERE.
When I got home, I needed something to take my attention away from my back, so I washed and cut the strawberries I got on sale from Raleys.
I put the strawberries
over ice cream, added some sliced banana and some whipped cream. It
provided the perfect temporary relief I was seeking. The simple
pleasures of life can be a treat.
Is a misunderstanding simply a result of an information deficit?
If a sociopath cant feel right and wrong, would reading about it help them to understand what compassion feels like?
I guess I am reacting
to the brutish lack of concern for others that seems to be a character
trait of the current batch of republicans, (and a few democrats), in the
state and federal legislatures.
I am astonished
that the republicans can’t come up with a qualified presidential
candidate. Is it because an intelligent, dignified, statesman isn’t
willing to sell his soul to the party’s corporate owners?
Fall is beginning to show it’s presence in the changing of a few leaves and a couple of degrees cooler nights here in Redding.
I got a Facebook message from a DJ in Jackson, Mississippi who said the streets there are covered with ice.
I also got a Facebook message from Occupy Redding, reminding me to show up around noon at the Chase bank on Cypress, tomorrow.
I will be
joining some other people who have absorbed enough information to
comprehend that the present course of our financial institutions is
eroding the very foundations on which our country grew to become a great
democracy.
I like to think
that if enough of us, in towns and cities across America, stand
together and demand that our President do what we elected him to do, we
might put a stop to the corporate takeover of our government.
So I will mill about in front of the Chase bank, with the others who feel the need to stand for what they feel is right, (or stand against what they feel is wrong).
I printed up a homemade sign to carry with my message;
The plan
was to take a sequence of still pictures of the moon rising above
Lassen Park and stick them together to make a moonrise video. It turned
out nice, even if not according to plan. Spontaneity seems to present me
with wonderful results.
I set the camera
on a tripod on the trunk of the Buick that I parked by the Treehouse
dumpster, so as to get the ideal angle for the moonrise. I took many
pictures as I waited, and waited. Just on a whim, I looked around the
tree that framed the left of the picture of Lassen Park and saw that the
moon had already risen behind the tree.
Earlier
in the afternoon, I walked around behind ‘A’ building and took a few
dozen pictures of flowers and vegetables, including the tomatillo
pictured above.
There were a lot of little fuzzy butterflies that let me get some really fun closeups.
It seemed
like an all around, mighty fine day to me. I got a chance to mix a
couple of the songs from the band playing at the Redding Fitness event
last Thursday. This was a good thing because I had pictures from the
arboretum Saturday, that were waiting for my song, It Had 2 B U. The
song and slide show are;
It was a perfect
evening for the International Observing The Moon Day/Night. The pale
gibbous moon rose into the blue sky above snow dusted Mt Lassen right on
time. I, on the other hand, was a few minutes late and couldn’t
convince the moon to go back down to just above the mountaintop. I will
just have to be more alert tomorrow.
Of course,
if all else fails, I can make an image of the moon rising anywhere,
anytime, but I do like to get the natural photo every now and then.
Shasta Saturday Eve
One of
the many enjoyable ways to spend the Columbus Day weekend is floating
on a houseboat, spending the days roaming the lake and the nights at
anchor in one of the many ‘private’ coves.
For me,
this area is a photographers dream. The moods of the mountains and
lakes are constantly changing from minute to minute as well as day to
day. I can take pictures of clouds on a mountain, come home and load the
pictures onto the computer, go back outside, and the clouds will have
disappeared.
Then there are the digital photo editing programs too fool around with, too.
The Arboretum
I went to the Sundial Bridge the back way, through the McConnel Arboretum, on my way to the Occupy Redding gathering. The event was scheduled to occur from noon to 4p. I didn’t head over there until around 3:00.
This was my first
visit to the Arboretum It was so fascinating and photogenic that I just
wandered around taking pictures of the flowers, ponds, trees, and
immersing myself in various groupings of trees, plants and shady
atmospheres.
By the time
I got to the rally, it was pretty much over. There was a guy just
holding his guitar, and a handful of people talking amongst themselves,
sharing their points of view.
I pointed my view
back into the wonderful world of plant filled serenity that I felt in
the arboretum. They have a plant sale there this weekend. I may return
and see if there is a plant that wants to come home with me.
Occupy Redding
has another event scheduled for next weekend at Chase Bank. I noticed
on Facebook that I know a few of the people who will be going. This may
turn out to be a powerful statement to our elected officials, as well as
to the 1% who would choose profits over the health and welfare of the
American people.
There be goldfish
in these waters. I have some closeups of the fish, and a whole lot more
pictures to show you in a slide show of the arboretum, but I didn’t get
the music mixed to my satisfaction, so I will have to use another
photographers beautiful stop motion flower video. It is really
wonderful, magical, and beautifully composed imagery from halfway around
the world.
Really. You can join with people all over the world who will be looking at the moon, on Observe The Moon Night.
Keeping Up To Date
I have accumulated
many ‘keeper’ images over the past couple of days. If I don’t write a
blog post, the pictures that I have prepared for this blog just sit on
the desktop until I either throw them in the trash because I have new
ones for the topics, or I put them on here whether they support the
words or not.
The rainstorms
that fell on Redding earlier in the week, brought snow to the
mountains. I took pictures between storms, (above), and today, (below),
after the storms.
Of Course, There Are Flower Pix
Bridge Views
I went down
to the Sundial Bridge this afternoon and walked halfway across the
bridge and back to find out if I might be physically capable of walking
all the way across, (and back). An ‘Occupy Redding’
demonstration starts on the other side of the bridge tomorrow at noon,
and I hope to be able to participate.
It’s just one of thousands of events across the country that have grown out of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Shasta Snow
Mt Shasta didn’t fully clear the clouds today, but one could see that it got a nice dusting of snow from the recent storms.
